Former convict uses woodworking skills for positive cause

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CONCORD, N.C. -- A former convict in Concord is using his woodworking skills and his faith to create a positive product made right here in North Carolina.

Jasen Lube was in prison for 37 to 54 months after being convicted on his third DWI – a wreck that caused a serious injury and a four-car pileup.

He was taken to Alexander Correctional Institute in Taylorsville, where the woodworking program tapped into his new energy.

Lube -- of Top Notch Woodworking -- said a minister on the radio, finally reached him at the lowest point of his life.

Lube's natural talent showed immediately in the form of tables with inlaid tops, elaborate bowls and boxes.

Then, after he was released, he discovered something else -- a church.

Lube’s rough edges are gone now. He has another carpenter to thank for that.

"When I was at Alexander correctional one night I was praying to God,” he said. “And I asked him, is this what you'd have me do? And he said that his son was a carpenter and he wants me to be a carpenter. And so from that point on, I knew that I had to do this... as soon as I got out I had to pursue it.”